


Along came a Spider

by IWillNotGoGentlyIntoThatGoodNight (Menochange)



Series: The Spectacular SpiderBat [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesiac Dick, Angst with a Happy Ending, Batfamily, Batfamily Feels, Batfamily Shenanigans, Damian Wayne Feels, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne is Robin, Damian Wayne is Spiderman (eventually), Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Tim Drake, Protective Jason Todd, Protective Stephanie Brown, spiderman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 05:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18985927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menochange/pseuds/IWillNotGoGentlyIntoThatGoodNight
Summary: After an accident leaves Tim injured in the hospital, Damian finds himself estranged from the rest of the batfam where he soon discovers that with great power comes great responsibility.orThe one where Damian accidentally becomes Gotham's newest Superhero...Spiderman.





	Along came a Spider

**Author's Note:**

> ...So this is me... Starting a new series ... again ... :)
> 
> The timeline for this one is a bit iffy as it's set in the future so Damian is roughly around 15. Dick never regains his memory after being shot and still went through his whole 'fuckboy Rick' phase but eventually falls in love with Babs again (by complete chance) and becomes less of a fuckboy. Although he mostly keeps his distance from the rest of the Family.   
> More will be revealed on that as this series goes on (possibly even have a pre-spiderbat sidestory about the family eventually)  
> Also at the moment this is a Gen fic but the series may end up with a Jon/Dami plot line further along so if you're not into that please be warned (although it will be tagged if/ when it happens)

Damian hovered nervously as they waited for an update about Drake’s condition.  The awful feeling that had lodged itself in his chest seemed to tighten every second they sat useless, waiting. He needed to get out, he needed to go and do something to rid himself of this feeling which hasn’t left him since the moment he watched his brother’s blood splatter across the sidewalk. This was all his fault. If he hadn’t disobeyed orders, if he had just followed the plan and not rushed in at the first sign of danger, none of this would have happened.

His father wouldn’t even look at him, just murmured a tired “Not now Damian” when the teen had tried to clarify what happened, tried to apologise - Between getting Drake back to the cave and then to a hospital sans costume without injuring him further on top of protecting their secret identities, there hadn’t been any time to explain.

But at least his father’s quiet refusal was easier to face compared to Brown’s outrage and Jason’s cold fury. He had tried to explain what happened once everyone – dress in their civilian clothes – started to arrive and things had started to settle. “He’s fine, Drake was being seen to by professionals” he had tried to reassure them but the other vigilantes would have none of it. They had heard one side of the situation via comms and had decided him guilty without trial. He knows how it sounded but he hadn’t done it. He hadn’t pushed or attacked Timothy in any way. He knows it looks bad; he knows what it sounded like over the comms. He swore to them that he hadn’t, it was the truth even if the refused to believe it.

Yes, they had been fighting and yes things were starting to escalate from verbal attacks and jibs to something more physical; but Damian had stopped himself, he had started to walk away. He knows that sounds unbelievable given who he is and his past track record but given everything that was at stake tonight he wasn’t about to risk it over a stupid spat with Drake. The very fact that Nightwing was willingly – for the first time in almost two years – on a mission with the family, let alone associating with any of them meant that sacrifices needed to be made, especially if it could be the deciding factor on whether he could see his brother more often.

But now all of that was for nothing. The past two years meant nothing because Grayson was looking at Damian like he was a monster. He wanted to scream, shout, get on his knees and beg for his brother to believe him, to look at Damian like he did before, before  Drake was injured, before the mission, before he had forgotten everyone that had ever mattered, before Richard had been shot, before everything had gotten so complicated and it was just them. Batman and Robin. Dick and Damian. Brothers rather than strangers.

In one fell swoop Damian was going to lose everything. Grayson was never going to even look in his direction ever again, His father’s other children/wards/crime fighting companions (because it hurt too much in the face of their rejection to call them what they really were, his family) hated him now and would decide against further association, his father wouldn’t even acknowledge him and there was honestly no way Damian would be allowed to continue as Robin after this. Damian would laugh at the irony of the situation if he wasn’t so close to tears. After everything they’ve been through over the years Timothy will have finally gotten his revenge without even trying – unless he had planned to fall of a building but despite Drake being a manipulative asshole with suicidal tendencies, even he wouldn’t have done something like this on purpose. It had all just happened so fast.

If he was being honest, Damian used to believe that most of the civilians they questioned were idiots or purposely being unhelpful when they said inane things like ‘It all happened so fast’ or ‘Everything just blurred together’. He had never understood how especially during a traumatic events people wouldn’t be able to recall hours of useful information or were vague with their recollections. Damian had always prided himself on the fact that his recall was flawless, just like his approach to battle situations which were less than ideal. Over the five years he had been Robin, Damian had expanded and perfected his skill set to the point where he could (and would) argue that he was almost on par with Batman. But in that moment Damian took back every ill word he had ever said about civilian witnesses.   

It had all happened so fast, one moment Drake was yelling at him, going to grab Damian’s cape – A good warrior was always aware of their surroundings even with his back turned – to stop him from entering the building, in the next Damian had turned back around – at the sounds of Drake’s uncouth scream – and Timothy was gone, down over the side of the building, splattering onto the pavement with a sickening crack, his blood seeping in every direction over so many surfaces that within the few seconds it had taken to reach him, Damian had been almost certain Timothy was dead.

In that moment, standing over Drake’s battered, broken form, Damian froze unsure what to do, unsure whether there was anything he could do. Drake was dead. The vicious child he used to be cheered whist the rest of him mourned and then the older boy twitched, and Damian took in the breath he didn’t even realise he had been holding. After that he can’t actually say what happened next because his training kicked in automatically as the adrenaline took over and his body ran on autopilot whilst his brain was still trying to process the numbers trying to work out Drakes chances of survival based on all the variables – How much blood had he lost? how many bones were broken? (was it a clean break), did he have brain damage?

Damian barely got out something he hoped resembled an explanation before he cut his comms on the voices screaming in his head, distracting him from his new mission – Save Drake. Somehow, he managed to get them both to the nearest safe house, into their civilian gear and onto the road, practically running in front of a passing ambulance (forcing the paramedics to look over Drake whist giving them a ride to Gotham general) and then lying to everyone necessary about their cover story – Drake heroically tried to save a cat from a tree and fell – before waiting restlessly for his family to show up. At first there was yelling followed by quietly snarled accusations and thinly veiled threats about what would happen if Timothy didn’t wake up, but by now they had all be waiting for hours – not with him, Damian had originally been told to go home and when he had refused they had all decided to purposely sit away from him, huddled together in the far right of the room whilst Damian was iced out with harsh words and cold gazes whenever he dared to even look in their direction from the small patch of air he had commandeered to continue his nervous pacing.

The waiting room door slid open pulling Damian from his dark thoughts as he – and every other person in the room – turned his attention to the Doctor who walked in, hoping she was there for them, hoping she had good news.

“Mr Wayne, Could I speak to you privately for a moment” She asked smiling sympathetically at the rest of them waiting anxiously for an update.    

 His father nodded, already out of his seat and walked with the doctor out of the door causing the rest of their family to break out into hushed whispers. Damian stopped pacing and threw himself into an uncomfortable plastic chair, pulling out his phone to scroll through twitter for a bit. Lost in the welcome distraction that was twitter controversies, Damian was startled and fumbled with his phone as a hand slammed into the wall next to his head.

“I know you don’t give a shit Demon so why the fuck are you still here?” Brown spat at him venomously as she got in his face “Are you just waiting to make sure the job is done? Want to gloat that you fucking maimed Tim, going to wait until we get news that Timmy is-that he is- that he…” Steph stuttered her voice cracked and face crumbled unable to finish her sentence as the tears began to form.

“Steph, leave him alone.” Gordan said from her place across the room where she was resting her head upon Grayson’s shoulder.

“Yeah Steph, you never know, you might be the next one the little demon tries to off next” Jason glared     

Damian looked away not even bothering to protest at this point. They were all just worried, when Drake got better everything would go back to normal (or as normal as things could be) and until then he would just have to manage. He stared aimlessly at his phone for a moment a feeling of dread settling over him at the very thought of being alone after everything had been good for over a year. He sighed quietly to himself before shooting off a quick mass text **(Are you awake? – DW)** to a few close friends in hope that one would answer immediately. He needed to talk to someone, anyone would do so long as they didn’t think him a monster, didn’t hate him.

His phone buzzed a minute later but before he could check it his father walked back into the room dressed in medical scrubs. He was alone. His face tired and grim, back straight and his free hand unclenched as he ran it though his hair, The other clutched at a larger stack of paperwork he had clearly just picked up from the nurses station. He was tired, worried and stressed but not broken. Damian let out a relieved breath, Drake must still be alive.

“They just finished the third surgery, he’s stable so they’re transferring him into the ICU for the night.” He informed them as his face broke into a relieved smile “They’ll only allow two people in at a time and you’ll all have to keep it short. They’ve put him in an induced coma so he won’t be responsive. I want you all to go home and get some rest after you’ve had a moment to see him.”

“We can’t leave him here by himself, what if the demon decides to go full psycho and tries to finish the job?” Steph protested loudly as the others

“I didn’t do it” Damian interjected but his protest fell on deaf ears.

“Stephanie. Enough.” Bruce commanded sternly but Steph shook her head adamantly, looking ready to argue further.

“I mean, she has a fair point” Harper agreed inserting herself into the conversation.

“Harper” Cullen shot his sister a meaningful look “It was probably an accident. They were having an argument and in the heat of the moment….”

“I said I didn’t do it” Damian snarled at them, glaring viciously as he moved himself closer to the group in hopes that someone would just listen to him.

“Just because it was in the heat of the moment doesn’t make it any less…”

“I’m not not saying it does but maybe…”

“I didn’t do it” Damian tried once again

“I don’t know man; the timing seems …” Duke chimed in

“Of course, he did it he’s…” Steph accused rolling her eyes.      

“I DIDN’T FUCKING DO IT!” Damian finally screamed as the other’s continued to talk over him.

“BULLSHIT, DEMON. You’ve had it out for replacement since day one” Jason scoffed

“That doesn’t mean anything, you…”

“All of you need to shut the hell up! Now. Whether or not anyone did anything purposely or on accident isn’t something we should be discussing here, in public” Dick hissed cut in as he glared them all into silence “I know it’s been a long night so clearly your imaginations are running wild. So let’s all just calm down and stop all this nonsense. Timmy is going to be alright and that’s what we should be focusing on not some stupid made up stories. Okay kiddies.” Dick said loudly as he shot a side eyed look to the left causing them all to – unsubtly – turn their heads to the side in unison to spot a wide eyed family of four who seemed to be watching their outbursts in the same way people would morbidly watch a train crash – meaning that they were clearly horrified but were unable to look away. The family seemed to freeze at the sudden attention placed upon them, looking as though he wanted to get on his knees right then and there to thank God as the door opened and doctor walked into the room asking for the Morrisons. The father quickly ushered his wife and two kids out the door leaving the waiting room empty except for the Bats.

“Okay. Enough all of you. You’re all going to go see Tim – Two at a time for no longer than 5 minutes – and then you’re _all_ going home, all of you will spend the night at the manor. Duke, Damian Alfred will excuse you from school tomorrow so you can both sleep in. I’m staying the night at the hospital. Stephanie, Cass you two are first. Followed by Duke and Jay, Dick and Barbara, Harper and Cullen and then Myself and Damian. End of discussion.” Bruce finally ordered breaking the lengthy silence before he pulled out his phone and sat down in one of the waiting room chairs.

The batkids shared a look before Steph grabbed Cass’s hand and bolted out the door. Jason stared after them frowning before he huffed and threw himself back into a plastic chair as the others followed suit. Damian joined them silently still stewing over the accusations, the room felt quietly oppressive, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe. He needed to get out of here.

He got up suddenly from his spot in the corner of the room, drawing attention from his siblings but no longer caring as the need to get away spurned him on, he practically sprinted out the door and through the maze-like corridors

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think :)


End file.
